This invention relates to an apparatus for treating the surfaces of tubular members with liquids consisting of a treating tank which contains a bath of the liquid and a movable support for the tubular members in the bath.
The surfaces of metallic tubular members are treated by being pickled in pickling tanks. For that purpose the tubular members must be introduced into the pickling tanks and moved in the pickle and be removed and are subsequently rinsed in rinsing tanks.
The tubular members are introduced into the tanks in the form of packs, which are inserted into chains or U-shaped holders. A crane is used to move the packs into the tanks an to move them in the tanks and to remove them from the tanks (Otto Vogel, "Handbuch der Metallbeizerei", Verlag Chemie GmbH, Weinheim/Bergstrasse, 1951, pages 342-347). In that process the chains or U-shaped holders enter the bath, the tubular members contract each other also as they are moved in the bath, and it is virtually impossible to encapsulate the baths to permit vapors to be exhausted.
German Patent Publication No. 16 21 624 discloses a cylindrical tank, which is its bottom contains rams, which are vertically reciprocated so that tubular members which loosely lie in the tank in the form of a bundle are moved relative to each other. The leadthroughs in which the rams extend through the bottom must be sealed, and the tubular members must be moved by hand into and out of the tank.
Published German Application No. 15 46 155 discloses a rack, in which raillike supports for respective tubular members are arranged in superimposed tiers. When the rack is reciprocated in the tank, the tubular members roll on the raillike supports. The tubular members must be placed on the supports by hand. The rack is immersed into the tank, and it is virtually impossible to encapsulate the tank.